Collective Encounters, the Liverpool-based arts charity specialising in Theatre for Social Change, is proud to announce the Radical Retrospectives Festival, a one-off mini-festival throughout September-October 2025, celebrating 21 years of centring unheard stories from the region’s grassroots communities.
Since its founding in 2004, Collective Encounters has worked across Liverpool City Region and beyond, supporting marginalised communities to share their experiences and perspectives through creative practice. Radical Retrospectives continues this mission by documenting, reflecting on and celebrating the cultural memory of communities often overlooked by mainstream media.
The festival programme includes our ever popular open space events, which brings participants together to discuss key topics;exhibitions, including a powerful installation that revisists and reflects the themes of migration through the lens of Black maternal health; performances and the launch of a new digital archive, offering audiences the opportunity to explore both the heritage and contemporary creativity of Liverpool’s diverse communities.
Radical Retrospectives Festival Highlights:
- Art, Change & ‘Public Good’ – Open Space Event
10am-12.30pm Thursday 18 September 2025
The Black-E, L1 5EW - Black Maternal Health Exhibition
Opens Thursday 26 September 2025
Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, L8 1TH - Creativity, Archives & Social Justice – Open Space Event (Online)
- 10am-12.30pm Thursday 9 October 2025
- Social Change Cabaret
7pm Saturday 18 October 2025
The Casa, L1 9BP - Archive Launch (In Person)
Wednesday 22 October 2025, 10am–12pm
The Bluecoat, L1 3BX - Archive Launch & Cabaret (Online)
Wednesday 22 October 2025, 7pm–8pm - The Storytelling Cloak – Digital Exhibition full details to be announced
Aidan Jolly, Co-Artistic Director for Research and Project Lead, said:
“Radical Retrospectives Festival is about stories from below. It celebrates the diverse ways our participants have shaped the city’s cultural history, offering a fresh perspective on what heritage is and the role we’ve played as an organisation in creating spaces for creativity over the past 21 years.”
The festival is designed for local communities, cultural practitioners, academics, activists and members of the general public interested in heritage, social change and participatory arts. Many events are accessible, including BSL interpretation and audio description.
Collective Encounters invites audiences to engage with the festival, whether by attending live events, exploring the digital archive or participating in the conversations that shape Liverpool’s cultural future.
For more information, festival programme details, and online event links, visit the website or contact info@collective-encounters.org.uk.
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